With long blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a charming twang, Amanda Gullickson has the southern belle thing down to a T. After jobs as a “Delia’s catalogue girl” and walking the Miami Fashion Week runway for Topshop and Custo Barcelona, Gullickson, 17, has ditched her hometown of Charlotte, N.C. (after finishing high school a year early) for New York City. Two weeks in and now repped by One Management, the new girl in town talks about her budding career.

WWD: How did you get started modeling?Amanda Gullickson: I played basketball with a friend who did some modeling on the side. I decided to give it a shot and it sort of just took off. It came so out of the blue, everyone was like, “Where is this coming from?”

WWD: What has been the most surprising part about your new career?Gullickson: The biggest shock was having to watch what I eat. Since I was a basketball player before, you always want carbs. With modeling you have to say, “I don’t want that cookie.” My hips are right on the edge of 35 inches, so if I eat too much I might go over to 36. I watch proportions. I had to cut out candy and I’m such a candy person. WWD: Tell me about your first casting.Gullickson: It was for the Susan Woo look book. It was pretty good, but the only thing that threw me off was she asked me if I were a condiment, what would I be. I just said ketchup — I didn’t want to answer wrong. WWD: Did you book the job?Gullickson: I haven’t found out yet. I asked her what condiment she would be, and she said Korean hot sauce. Her assistant said relish. WWD: What’s up next for you? Gullickson: I’ve met with Seventeen and I think I’m going to do something with them. It was funny, because [the bookings manager] asked me, “Would you be willing to kiss a guy?” So I said, “Yeah! Just talk to [my booker].” And [my booker] was just like, “No.” I think we’ll work something out though.Click Here for the Latest ‘Model Call’ >>